TOKYO: Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe has been taken to hospital bleeding after collapsing while delivering a speech in the western city of Nara, public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

A sound like a gunshot was heard at the time, and a male suspect was detained at the scene, NHK said. An NHK reporter on the scene said they could hear two consecutive bangs during Abe's speech.

Kyodo News said the former premier was not conscious and appeared to be in cardiac arrest.